Scoliosis
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Here is the abstract to my thesis for the International Baccalaureate Extended Essay.

Click Scoliosisfor the rest paper.

Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis, known as AIS, affects 2-3% of teenagers. AIS is an abnormal curvature of the spine (scoliosis) that occurs in adolescents, but its cause is unknown (idiopathic). Until the connection is discovered on how scoliosis develops in some people and not in others, most of the technology will concentrate on treating scoliosis. The condition is not curable, but those patients diagnosed with scoliosis have many treatment options. Due to the unpredictable nature of AIS, treatment has to be customized for each patient. This paper discusses not only the procedure and requirements for diagnosis of scoliosis, but the treatments available. Necessary factors for determining treatment include family history, personality, lifestyle, severity of the curve, and skeletal maturity. These factors are crucial to deciding on a treatment because the period in which AIS develops. With adolescents not only must their rapid growth be considered, but their fragile emotional condition.

This paper reviews from research and personal experience some of the treatments now being used for AIS. There are some recent noninvasive approaches such as electrostimulation and biofeedback, but there are no large studies on them. The emphasis on exercise as a treatment has not been tested for efficacy with proper experimentation. Analysis of the newer techniques is limited due to the lack of long term results.

Generally adolescents diagnosed with AIS should be monitored by regular examinations and if needed, further treatments such as bracing should be employed as long as they have not completed growing. Where bracing fails or is ineffective surgery should be considered. Although long term results have not been completed on most of the treatments for AIS bracing and surgery seem to be the most effective. The individual nature of each case of scoliosis, physically and emotionally, makes recommendation of a specific treatment difficult. ________________________________________________________________________________

Other references

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